Bagasse-fubnace



NITEI) PATENT OFFICE.

GEO. M. LONGAORE, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

BAGAssE-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,842, dated July 21, 1857.

T o 'afl whom it 'mayy concern.'

Be itknown that I, GEORGE M. LONG-V ACRE, of the city of New Orleans,parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, have made` a new and usefulImprovement in Bagas'se- Furnaces; and I hereby declare the following isa full andv exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon,making a part of this specific ition, the same letters made use of todesignate the same parts shown in the differentv views.

The object of this invention is to secure theescaping from the furnaceof the evaporated moisture retained in the bagasse, as it comes from thesugar mill, this evaporation being the drying process preparatory torendering thiskind of fuel useful. In other furnaces for burningbagasse, the vapor has to pass from the furnace through the same channelas the heated gas from combustion. Therefore the heating of this vaporby the gas, is causing a reduction of temperature of the gas, and in thesame ratio produces a less value in heating power, when applied to thepurposes required. To obviate this described disadvantage, I constructthe furnaces with ventilators to admit the vapor to pass from thefurnace and escape outv of the top of the same. The ventilators havetheir openings in the interior of the furnace and above the mass ofbagasse within to secure a free passage of the vapor to leave thefurnace soon as formed independent of the action of the common chimney.I construct the furnace to show, and in reality is, two distinctfurnaces, separated by a division wall the entire length of thefurnaces, and also withtwo boilers having two hoppers to admit thebagasse into the furnaces; also separate furnace doors and separate airchambers to admit the air to support the combustion, separateventilators to allow the va or to pass out, with separate valves tocIose or open the ventilators for each furnace, as the circumstances mayrequire, and concentrate the ventilators into one tube or chimney abovethe valves of the same. I have dampers placed in the canal leading fromthe furnace to the chimney to suspend the draft of the chimney asrequired during the time the furnace is being charged with bagasse, andallow the drying to gofon, the furnace thus being charged having thefurnace doors closed and sus pend the admission of the air at the sametime, making it under these circumstances an air tight furnace,excepting that the ventilators are open to allow the vapor to rise andpass out through the described passage. The other fui nace having thebagasse already dried by the same operation that this 'is su posed to bein, the combustion is going on, tie air is admitted for this purpose,the damper in the canal to the chimney opened, and the valves of itsventilator shut to pre vent any sparks, smoke or other products ofcombustion escaping through.

After this my general description I will refer to the drawings to renderthe subject more definite.

Figure 1 is a top view of the furnace. Fig. 2 is a vertical section,taken on lines :c x and a." x of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section online yfyof Fig. 1, and line y y of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a horizontalsection taken on lines z z and z 2 of Fig. 3, showing the draft openingsof one chamber and Ventilating openings of the other. Fig. 5 is avertical section on m m of Fig. 1, showing valves in Ventilatingchannel.

A and A are the combustion chambers, into which the bagasse passesthrough the o enings o o in the crowns of arches O O. 'I` e draft ofthese chambers is regulated by the Vdoors d d d, air passing throu hchannels a into the spaces a, around the c ambers and entering the saidchambers by openings designated by letters e, which in practice are theinterstices of the bricks composing the wall. The products of combustionare carried along the passages P P under the boilers B B', and unitingat U pass out of the flue V. The passages P P have cut off dampers v o.The upper portion of the combustion cham bers have outlets f to thespaces c leading to the ventilator F, for the passage of the moisturearising from the heated bagasse.

g g are valves in the ventilator by which it can be opened or closed asdesired.

s s are swinging doors kept closed by weights s s', and yielding to theweight of bagasse as it enters the hoppers i. Above the hoppers betweenthe cheekslt, is a swinging table fw, on the shaft r of which is an armhaving on its extremity a weight t. This table will by turning upon itsshaft bring either hopper in communication with the carrier; so as tofeed either chamber of com bustion when desired.

The draft doors d d d are shown in the draWing as each regulating bothchambers, though in practice there Would be a separate set for eachchamber.

The furnace chamber A being supposed to be in full operation, 'the valvegin the ventilator F Will be closed, and the damper v under boiler BWill be open. Meantime chamber A having been charged With moist bagasse,damper v Will be closed and the draft openings of this chamber also shutoff. Valve g Will be open and will carry off the evaporated moisture ofthe bagasse, and by this drying bring it to a condition favorable tocombustion. So that When the contents of chamber A have been consumed,damper fu will be opened, valve g closed and the draft openin 's in thefront of the furnace opened 5 While c amber A will receive a freshsupply of bag-asse, Which Will be dried as described for chamber A.

/Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,.is-

The construction of bagasse furnaces With a space c around andcommunicating With the upper portion of the fuel chamber, substantlallyas described, and leading to an exit liuc F, regulated by a damper; Whensaid parts are additional to the ordinary channels for the passage ofthe products of combustion, the operation being substan- 30 tially as,and for the purposes specified.

GEO. M. LONGACRE. Signedvin presence of* P. N. STRONG, FRANoisARMSTRONG.

